(no subject)
President Barack Obama, black man. I didn't dare to imagine it. For some reason my thoughts keep going back to my father; he would be so proud. I shed tears of joy - for the first time in I don't know how long - when CNN called it for Obama. I grew up in a household where a large portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. was the centerpiece of our family room. I grew up understanding, from within my family and without, the effect of the colors of skin. When my father was born in the South, it was illegal for most black people to vote. Not until he was in his twenties was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed...when he was my age, come to think of it. He saw the change then, I would think, as I see this change now. Another step on a ladder to which he was and I am chained because of the colors of our skin. Because of a very long history of race-based discrimination. For me, today has given me hope - my faith in the American people has been affirmed for the first time since I truly realized that my faith was uninformed. How will things change? Who knows? But I feel, deep inside me, that this is so, so positive.
However, in four states, limits were placed on my rights as a person because of my sexuality. Arizona banned my right to marry, Arkansas banned my right to adopt children, California banned my right to marry, and Florida, too, banned my right to marry. When and how will this end? Barack Obama's victory gives me hope that I can eventually be considered a true American citizen, one deserving of the same rights as others.
However, in four states, limits were placed on my rights as a person because of my sexuality. Arizona banned my right to marry, Arkansas banned my right to adopt children, California banned my right to marry, and Florida, too, banned my right to marry. When and how will this end? Barack Obama's victory gives me hope that I can eventually be considered a true American citizen, one deserving of the same rights as others.